| Noun | 1. | passive - the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb; "`The ball was thrown by the boy' uses the passive voice"; "`The ball was thrown' is an abbreviated passive" Synonyms: passive voice |
| Adj. | 1. | passive - lacking in energy or will; "Much benevolence of the passive order may be traced to a disinclination to inflict pain upon oneself"- George Meredith Synonyms: inactive Antonyms: active - disposed to take action or effectuate change; "a director who takes an active interest in corporate operations"; "an active antagonism"; "he was active in drawing attention to their grievances" |
| 2. | passive - peacefully resistant in response to injustice; "passive resistance" Synonyms: peaceful | |
| 3. | passive - expressing thatthe subject of the sentence is the patient of the action denoted by the verb; "academics seem to favor passive sentences" Antonyms: active - expressing that the subject of the sentence has the semantic function of actor: "Hemingway favors active constructions" |
PASSIVE, com. law. All the sums of which one is a debtor. It is used in contradistinction to active. (q.v.) By active debts are understood those which may be employed in furnishing assets to a merchant to pay those which he owes, which are called passive debts.
Laodicean, Olympian, abeyant, abject, accepting, accommodating, acquiescent, active voice, adapting, adaptive, adjusting, agreeable, aloof, amenable, apathetic, asleep, assenting, bearing, benumbed, blah, blank, blankminded, blase, bovine, calm, cataleptic, catatonic, centrist, comatose, complaisant, compliable, compliant, complying, consenting, contemplative, cool, dead, deferential, desensitized, detached, disinterested, dispassionate, do-nothing, docile, dopey, dormant, dull, empty, empty-headed, even, fatuous, fifty-fifty, flat, flexible, forbearing, foul, gentle, groggy, half-and-half, heartless, heavy, hebetudinous, hopeless, humble, immobile, impartial, impassive, imperturbable, implicit, in a stupor, in abeyance, in suspense, inane, incogitant, independent, indifferent, insouciant, laissez-aller, laissez-faire, lamblike, languid, languorous, latent, leaden, lethargic, lifeless, listless, logy, long-suffering, malleable, medio-passive, meditative, meek, middle, middle voice, midway, moderate, motionless, neuter, neutral, nirvanic, nonaligned, nonchalant, noncommitted, nondissenting, nonpartisan, nonresistant, nonresisting, nonresistive, nonviolent, numb, numbed, obedient, oblivious, on the fence, out of it, ovine, paralytic, paralyzed, passive voice, phlegmatic, placid, pliable, pluckless, procrastinating, quiescent, quiet, quietist, quietistic, receptive, reconciled, reflexive, repressed, resigned, sedentary, serene, servile, sheepish, slack, sleeping, sleepy, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, soporific, spiritless, spunkless, stagnant, stagnating, standing, standpat, static, stationary, still, stoic, stolid, stupefied, subdued, submissive, subservient, supine, suspended, tacit, tame, third-force, third-world, thoughtfree, thoughtless, tolerant, torpid, tractable, tranquil, unaffected, unaroused, unassertive, uncaring, uncommitted, uncomplaining, unconcerned, undisclosed, unexpressed, unideaed, unintellectual, uninterested, uninvolved, unmoved, unmoving, unoccupied, unperturbed, unreasoning, unresistant, unresisting, unresponsive, unrevealed, unshaken, unthinking, untouched, vacant, vacuous, vegetable, vegetative, voice, withdrawn, yielding